JULIE & "DAYS" CELEBRATE 48 YEARS ON NBC...SUSAN SEAFORTH
HAYES CELEBRATES 45 YEARS IN THE ROLE!

The character of Julie Olson has been on "Days of Our Lives"
since the day it premiered on November 8, 1965. In fact, Julie was the star of
the first two scenes ever shown on "Days." The series opened with Julie trying
to impress her two friends, Carol and Diane, by stealing a mink stole
from Bartlett's Department Store. As they try to walk casually out of the
store, a detective watching the store for recent crimes catches them. The
scene fades to black and, for the first time ever, these words are spoken: "Like
sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives." Upon returning from
its first commercial break (a commercial for Ocean Spray Cranberry Relish), the
detective is questioning Julie. When he asks her what her full name is, she lies
and says: "Julie Horton", becoming the first character ever to mention the name
Horton on "Days." As Julie turns around to give a sly smile to Carol and Diane,
the scene dissolves to an exterior of the Horton House and the introduction of
Julie's grandparents, Tom (Macdonald Carey) and Alice Horton (Frances
Reid).

The mink stole that
Julie stole in the first-ever scene on "Days." Julie (Charla Doherty) is
questioned at the police station.

48 years have passed since those scenes aired at 2:00PM on the
East Coast on Monday, November 8, 1965. While much has changed in Salem in those
48 years, three things remain the same from that first episode: Macdonald
Carey's voice is still heard each day saying "Like sands through the hourglass,
so are the days of our lives", the Horton House set is still used, and the
character of Julie is still on the show.

Charla Doherty and Macdonald Carey pose for a promotional
photo taken on the police station set during the first episode taping on October
29, 1965.

"Days" went through many
recasts of Julie in its first three years on the air. Four
actresses portrayed Julie from 1965-1968. When the role was originally
cast in the summer of 1965, two of the finalists were Susan Seaforth and
Charla Doherty. Seaforth brought along a reel of her scenes as model Carol
West from "The Young Marrieds." Her agent called her and said she had lost
the part because Julie was a meddlesome teen, and her work on "The Young
Marrieds" made her seem too sexy and old for the part. The role
instead went to 19-year-old Charla Doherty. Doherty played the part just
for over a year, and left the show in December 1966. Doherty continued to act in
and direct Los Angeles theater productions until her death from an accidental
fall in 1988. From January 1967-June 1967, Julie
was played by 20-year-old Broadway veteran Kathy Dunn (who had
received a Tony nomination for her role as one of the children in "The
Sound of Music."). Dunn decided to leave show business as soon as she left
"Days." She left California and married the son of a former president
of the tobacco company Philip Morris and never acted again. She is now
67 and lives in Virginia with her husband of 46 years, Robert Roper
Jr. From July 1967-February 1968, 20-year-old Cathy
Ferrar portrayed Julie. Born Cathy Ferraro, she dropped the last letter of her
name when she became an actress. After leaving "Days", Ferrar continued to act
for many years. She had a regular role on the short-lived series "The Sixth
Sense" in 1972 and continued appearing in guest spots until
1985. She is now 67 and a realtor in Beverly Hills, California.

Three years had passed since "Days"
debuted in November 1965. It was now November, 1968 and head writer Bill Bell
decided to give Julie a fresh start with a fourth actress. Julie had been away
from Salem since February, living in San Francisco. 25-year-old Susan Seaforth,
who had tried out for Julie in the original casting call in 1965, decided to
give it another try and audtioned again. Fittingly, when trying out to be the
fourth Julie, Susan had just appeared in four different roles on "Dragnet" in
1968. Here is what happened at the audition, as described by Susan herself
in her autobiography "Like Sands Through the Hourglass": "All the actresses
reading the audition scene would work opposite Denise Alexander (Susan)...Julie,
older now, pregnant out of wedlock, attempts to terrorize her archenemy Susan
into having a heart attack. In the verbal duel, Susan survives and Julie brings
on her own labor pains. There would be no screen test, so this time it was
do-or-die in the casting office. Denise and I tattered the scene...I once asked
Bill Bell what he remembered about my performance that morning: 'Your smile', he
admitted.'...Wanting it so much, I felt an almost out-of-body experience when
(my agent) called, this time full of good cheer because Betty Corday had chosen
me and the job would start immediately...I was the fourth ingenue to attempt the
role and everybody understood I was on trial, especially me."

Susan Seaforth: "The Early
Years"LEFT: 12-year-old Susan with Billie Burke (best known
as Glinda the Good Witch in "The Wizard of Oz") in the 1955 play "Mother Was a
Bachelor."RIGHT: Susan, now 14, in a guest spot with the
star of "The Loretta Young Show" in 1957.

An article from the December 8, 1968 San Antonio (TX) Light
announces Susan's arrival in Salem.

On December 3, 1968, Susan taped her first episode, # 780. In her
first scene, Julie calls Alice from San Francisco and decides to leave
California and return home to Salem in time for Christmas. The episode aired on
Wednesday, December 11, 1968. Now 45 years later, Julie (and
Susan) tries her best each year to be home to celebrate Christmas at
the Horton house.

Julie's first love interest on the show
was Scott Banning, who was played by Mike Farrell. After leaving "Days", Farrell
would become famous for his long-running role on "M*A*S*H." In February 1970,
Bill Hayes was cast as con man Brent Douglas, a prison mate of Bill
Horton's. Brent was eventually released from prison, changed his name
to Doug Williams, and moved to Salem. After a few years on the show together,
Bill and Susan began dating, and on October 12, 1974, they got
married. Two years later, on October 1, 1976, using the same wedding
vows they used in real life, Doug and Julie were married.

Doug and Julie broke up, got
remarried, and, in the end, stayed together through many trials and
tribulations. They left the series in March, 1984. Two years later, in April
1986, Doug reappeared in Salem (with no explanation as to where Julie was; in
real life, Susan was appearing as Joanna Manning on "The Young and the
Restless"). He stayed in town for a year until April, 1987 when his daughter
Hope and son-in-law Bo departed on an around-the-world cruise. Then in January
1990, Julie reappeared in Salem, this time without Doug. It was later disclosed
that she and Doug had broken up and divorced. For three years, Julie was a
single woman, dating, amongst others, Victor Kiriakis and Chip Lakin. On her
final contract appearance on January 28, 1993, Doug showed up unexpectedly and
she moved with him to Switzerland. They returned for Christmas in December 1993
and announced that they had gotten remarried in Switzerland. They've stayed
married since then and show up from time-to-time in
Salem. Susan Seaforth Hayes holds a special
record on "Days of Our Lives." She is the only actor to have appeared
on "Days" for the six different decades it has been on the air (1960s,
1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s). Congratulations to Susan on her 45
years in Salem and to "Days of Our Lives" on its 48th anniversary!

LEFT: Susan with Mark Tapscott, who portrayed one of Julie's
earlier love interests, Bob Anderson, in 1973...CENTER: A promotional photo
celebrating the sixth anniversary of
"Days" in 1971. Macdonald Carey (Tom) is
surrounded by
six actresses holding one candle each, to signify each
year the show was on. From left: Denise
Alexander (Susan), Maree Cheatham (Marie), Susan Flannery
(Laura), Frances Reid (Alice), Heather North (Sandy)
and Susan Seaforth (Julie)...RIGHT: Susan and
Macdonald Carey (Tom) promote the expansion of "Days" from a half-hour to
one-hour show in April, 1975. Susan is holding the small hourglass (representing
the half-hour version), while Mac holds the large hourglass (representing the
one-hour version).

Doug & Julie's
Second WeddingEpisode # 3940Air Date: May 22,
1981

LEFT: Doug and
Julie's second wedding in 1981. The wedding party included Suzanne Rogers
(Maggie), Frances Reid (Alice), Macdonald Carey (Tom) and Gregg Marx
(David)...CENTER: Susan and John Aniston (Victor), Julie's love interest in the
early 1990s...RIGHT: Susan and Bill with executive producer Ken Corday at the
40th anniversary party in 2005. It was thanks to Ken's mother, Betty, who cast
Susan in 1968 and Bill in 1970, that she and Bill met and eventually
married.

Doug sings "The
Most Beautiful Girl in the World" to JulieEpisode # 7188Air Date:
January 4, 1994

Doug & Julie
Sing "Always"Episode # 11681Air Date: September 27,
2011

An autographed photo of Bill & Susan from 2006. Susan has
been playing Julie on-and-off for 45 years, while Bill celebrates his 44th
anniversary of playing Doug in February, 2014. The couple celebrated their 39th
wedding anniversary in real life on October 12, 2013. Susan summed it up best
in the October 5, 1999 issue of Soap OperaDigest: "The magic was
always Julie with Doug. Julie wasn't too magical until Doug came along, and I
don't know if she ever has been without."